Monday, October 13, 2008

Crickets and Spiders and Frogs, Oh My!

Ever since we moved in, we have been finding little critters in our house. Were they here already? Did they move with us, in our boxes perhaps? Several times a week, I'll hear one of the kids, usually from the basement, "Mommy, I found something!" One time I came downstairs to find this: Underneath each one of those cups, Catherine had caught one of those icky black crickets. Yes, they were very much alive. So, Catherine, Dominic, and Anne each picked up a plate and cup and carried them outside and we let the crickets go. That story had a happy ending (at least for the crickets!)

About once or twice a week it is one of those humongous spiders (2-3 inches in diameter) with the very large bodies that ooze bluish/greenish goo when squished. Those are truly creepy and no, they don't make it out of the house alive.

So if you come to our house and see this sitting on the bookshelf: Don't open it!

Frog Story #1: One night a few weeks after we moved in, Dan went out to the garage and carried some heavy boxes of books down to the basement for me, so I could unpack them the next day. An hour or so later, I hear Dan from our bedroom, "I need a box!" He came out and repeated that, adding, "You are going to freak out." I immediately thought that there must be a snake in the house, but no, it was a frog. We found a box and I let Dan go take care of it, except that I shortly heard, "You have to come help me." So then I went to the bedroom and there in the corner by the nightstand was this little frog. You should have seen what went on in the next 10 minutes or so. Two adults with a box and a towel (to put on top so the frog couldn't jump out), trying to catch this little frog that kept jumping around, getting under the nightstand, etc. I'm sure it was a funny sight. We didn't want to actually touch the thing. Eww! Finally we caught it and took it outside. Whew. At least it wasn't a snake. And at least the kids were all sleeping. Although, they probably would have had fun chasing it.

Frog Story #2 : Last week, I was in our bedroom and I heard this commotion out in the living room, and wouldn't you know, Dominic had found a teeny dead frog under the ottoman. Ick! So, of course, after that Dan had to pretend he was seeing frogs everywhere and the kids would scream and carry on. Until I told Catherine to tell Daddy he had a frog on his head and she did and thought that was the funniest thing in the world. But, what I want to know, how did that frog get in our house and under the ottoman and die? Creepy!

(After reading these stories, we will suddenly have no house guests for the rest of the year.)